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Sunday, 25 September 2011

Back in March 2011 I made a few batches of cold pressed soap and put a few of my favourite recipes on the blog, after the soap had set I sliced it into rectangles and stored it away in my airing cupboard for it to cure, its been a few months now and its colour is paler and the soap has gone hard ready to use. This soap has loads of tiny bubbles when its used and the scent is very mild. I've decided that some will be given away as small gifts this Christmas so I set about packaging it with some lovely printed papers, this is how I did it....

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A selection of patterned papers to wrap around the soap.

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The papers were cut into rectangles approx 25cm x 10cm and folded around each soap and secured with paper string.

Thursday, 8 September 2011

Here are some new glaze samples I am mixing up and storing in glass jars. I am trying to build up a few different colours so I have ordered a few new ones to try.

Warm water is added to each glaze sample and mixed well then allowed to settle.

Each jar is labelled with the colour and firing temperature and stuck onto the jar for easy identification. The colours will differ significantly from the colour of the mixed glazes in jars. Amongst these there will be reds, greens, blues and mustard toned glazes. At least, this is what I am expecting, but different firings produce different effects with glazes.

These are clay smaples which I will use to keep a record of the new glaze samples. Some will be brushed on and others dipped, both creating different effects. The dragged lines on the samples are to show how glazes work on recessed areas and smooth areas. The hole at the top is just so that i can pin them up in the workshop as reference. To see more of my workshop visit my Workshop Tour

Thursday, 1 September 2011

I have been busying away sorting out a few little extras to add into my shop, my work is looking a bit sparce and I really need to add some new stock to my shop and start thinking about building up a selection of things for Christmas stalls,shops and pressies too. I made a start today with a few smaller projects.....

These are little clay tags to tie onto pressies, they are leather hard at the moment and I will fire them and use oxides and glaze for a bit of colour at a later stage.

I used this leaf textured wall paper to imprint onto the reverse side of the tags.

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This is what the reverse side of the tags look like with the wall paper imprint.

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MUD HANDS........A visual diary of what I make.

Print, texture and clay formations, practical Ideas and functional art that can be used for both purpose and style.
Here is where i document my successes and failings as both enable me to push on and are equally important in the making process.

Valentine Clays share friendly and knowledgable advice about their clays & raw materials from the smallest to the largest projects and offer a vast selection of clay bodies and will invariably send a few tester clays for you to try. Click to visit.